Apalachee Audubon
The Newsletter Of The Apalachee Audubon Society, Inc.
Vol. 102, no. 5
President’s Column
Each year over a half-million
birds are banded by scientists in
North America. Recently, Fred
Bassett, from Montgomery, Ala-
bama, banded two Black-chinned
Hummingbirds in my yard and
went on to band 12
1 Part sugar
4 Parts water
Boil 1-2 minutes
Cool
Refrigerate
unused solution
Never use honey or artificial
sweetener!
Do not add red food coloring (it
is not needed)
Rufous, 4 Black-chinned, 1 Allen's
and 1 Ruby-throated Humming-
birds in other Tallahassee yards.
He also recaptured 3 Rufous he
www.apalachee.org February, 2002
banded here last year and one that
was banded in April 2000 in In- Good birding.
gram Texas, about 75 miles
northwest of San Antonio. It is Larry
the farthest west a hummer has
ever been banded and then recap-
tured in the eastern United States.
This is a significant event in the
small world of hummer banders Program Highlight
and adds a valuable piece of in- Tuesday, February 26
formation about their migration
patterns.
In addition to their migration
patterns, banding provides orni-
thologists other valuable informa-
tion, such as their condition, size,
and weight that help determine Jim is with the Florida De-
what they need to survive. The partment of Environmental Pro-
data is used by conservationists, tection and will discuss the pro-
scientists and policy makers to tection of Florida's springs.
develop conservation policy. Wakulla Springs is too often
clouded with sediment and is
Many people in this area main- becoming choked with Hydrilla.
tain hummingbird feeders all year
As our urban area extends
long and are delighted to find
hummingbirds visiting their feed- south, we are learning, often too
ers in the winter. One of the big- late, how interconnected our
gest misconceptions about hum- ground and surface waters are
mingbirds is that if you don’t take as well as the contribution of
your feeder down the humming- the multiple point and non-point
birds will not migrate. This is contaminant sources.
absolutely false! Fred assures me
that there is nothing you can do to Programs begin with an infor-
keep the hummingbirds here mal social at 7:00 p.m., fol-
when it is time for them to leave.
lowed by the program at 7:30.
So you can keep those feeders
clean and full and enjoy win-
tering hummingbirds with a
clear conscience. And please re-
port your sightings to Larry
Thompson at lthomp-
son@audubon.org.
 ! " Officers
President: Larry Thompson 681-2591
lthompson@leaf-envirolaw.org
The Naturalist Society of North Florida hosts lectures by researchers in
Larry Treasurer: Harvey Goldman 385-5222
the natural history of our area. All community members interested in the Goldman@hep.fsu.edu
Secretary: Jim Crews 567-8795
topics of research are invited to attend. The lecturers are held the third jim_crews@hotmail.com
Thursday of each month from September through May, except December.
Each evening’s program begins with a social mixer at 7:00 p.m. and is fol- Board Members
lowed by the program from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Marvin Collins 224-9549
mcollins@nettally.com
Hans Van Tol 656-4039
vantol@Magnet.FSU.EDU
On February 21, Bill Palmer and Todd Engstrom will present their research on Bill Lowrie 962-4138
Bob White Quail, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and the Red Hills Ecosystem. The blowrie@mindspring.com
presentation will be held in the education barn at Tall Timbers Research Station,
on Henry Beadel Drive, off Highway 12 across from the WCTV Station. Go Committee Chairs
north on either Thomasville or Meridian Road and turn on Hwy 12. Beadel Road Conservation: Hans van Tol
is halfway between Meridian and Thomasville Road. Birdathon: Larry Thompson
Education: Ellen Shelton
On March 21, Greg Hagan will present his research on Red-cockaded Wood- Hospitality: Ed Gartner 386-6543
Membership: Harvey Goldman
pecker Reintroduction. The presentation will be held in the Cooperative Exten- Newsletter: Val Weeks 671-3931
sion Service Auditorium, 615 Paul Russell Road, directly east of Capital Stadium. vweeks@velocityonline.net
Publicity: Judy Rice
On April 18, (Still being developed – announcement will come later) Population: Harvey Goldman
Field Trips: Marvin Collins
Programs: Marvin Collins
On May 16, Jim Miller will present his research on the Apalachee Peo- Past President: Jim Shelton 942-5194
ple and their Environment. The presentation will be held in the Coopera- birdjim@peoplepc.com
tive Extension Service Auditorium, 615 Paul Russell Road, directly east Ex-Officio, Sierra Liaison: Grayal Farr
of Capital Stadium. 385-5732

The Apalachee Audubon newsletter is

published 8 times yearly (Sept. –
May, except Dec.) by the Apalachee
Make a difference by joining the National Audubon Society and the Apalachee Chapter. Audubon Society, Inc., P.O. Box
Every new member strengthens the organization and helps make our voice heard on behalf 1237, Tallahassee, FL 32302-1237.
of wildlife and the environment.
SPECIAL ONE-YEAR INTRODUCTORY RATE is $20.00 This newsletter is printed on
partially recycled paper.
NAME

STREET

CITY

STATE ZIP Mission Statement

Protection of the environment
BILL ME PAYMENT ENCLOSED through education, appreciation
and conservation
Members receive six bi-monthly issues of the award-winning Audubon magazine, eight
issues per year of the Apalachee newsletter, free membership in the local Audubon Chap-
ter, opportunities to visit most sanctuaries and nature centers, invitations to study with
Audubon experts at ecology camps and workshops, and eligibility to participate in wide-
ranging Audubon travel. Local Chapter: Apalachee Audubon, E19 7XCH
Send to: National Audubon Society
PO Box 51001
(Make checks payable to National Audubon Society)
Boulder, CO 80322-1001

2

Apalachee Audubon is con-
ducting its annual Beginning
Birdwatching workshop on Sat-
urday, March 2nd. We will ex-
plore and celebrate the fascinat-
ing birds in the Tallahassee area
while gaining knowledge and
skills to enjoy birding at home
or in the field. The Apalachee
Audubon Beginning Birdwatch-
ing Workshop will give you a
great opportunity to learn from
experienced birders who will
share their years of experience
and skills to make your birding
more enjoyable. The seminars
will address the bird species
likely to be seen during the bird
watching fieldtrip following the
workshop and the special op-
tional bird watching fieldtrip we
will offer about two weeks after
the workshop.
The Apalachee Audubon Be-
ginning Birdwatching Work-
shop will be held at Mt. Vernon
Square, 1114 Thomasville Rd.,
Suite E, Tallahassee, Florida
32303. The Workshop will be-
gin at 8:00 a.m. and end at
4:00 p.m. with a birding field-
trip at a local park.
Join Larry Thompson, presi-
dent of Apalachee Audubon
Society, and Marvin Collins,
Program and Fieldtrip Chair,
for this day of learning and
fun. Several local Apalachee
Audubon Society birding ex-
perts will participate and can
help the beginner get started.
We’ll enjoy a birding walk, so
be sure to bring your binocu-
lars and field guides! See
YOU there!
Registration for the work-
shop is $25 for Audubon
members and $45 for non-
members. Make check pay-
able to Apalachee Audubon
Society and send to:
Apalachee Audubon Society
P.O. Box 1237
Tallahassee, Fl. 32302
3
By Larry Thompson
More than 40 hardy birdwatch-
ers participated in this year’s all-
day Tallahassee Christmas Bird
Count. The 15-mile count circle
was divided into nine sections
with a team assigned to each sec-
tion. The census of early winter
bird populations recorded 125 spe-
cies on January 1st and another
three species during the count
week!
Thanks go to Rick West and
Gail Menk for compiling the data
and submitting the report, and
thanks also to the team leaders:
Grayal Farr
Rick West
Todd Engstrom
Fran James
Ed Woodruff
Jim and Ellen Shelton
Jim Cox and Kate NeSmith
Dean and Sally Jue
Also, special thanks to all the
great birders who spent the day in
the field!

Put your personal bird sight-
ings on the map in the 5th Great
Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)
during February 15 -18. Na-
tional Audubon, the Cornell Lab
of Ornithology, and Wild Birds
Unlimited invite birders of all
ages and skill levels to partici-
pate in this project that helps
scientists map the distribution
and abundance of wintering
birds in North America.
Count the birds on any one or
all of the count days. Each
counting session should be a
minimum of fifteen minutes but
longer is better. Prepare a sepa-
rate report for each day. Record
the date, start time, count dura-
tion, weather, and type of habi-
tat at each site. For each species
of bird seen, record the highest
number of each species seen at
one time. For example, if at
your backyard feeder you have
four Cardinals at 10:00 AM and
then six at 10:30, count that as
six, not ten, so you don’t count
the same birds twice.
You can submit your results
online and see the tally from the
entire continent at the GBBC
web site (www.birdsource.org/
gbbc). Last year there were
53,343 checklists submitted
with 442 species and over 4.5
million individuals counted. If
you don’t have access to the
web, call Hans Van Tol in the
evening at 850/656-4039. For
more details visit the GBBC site
or our chapter’s site (www.
apalachee.org). For more info
go to our Website, or for those
without internet connection
call Hans van Tol at 850 656
4039 (evening).
! "
Singer songwriter Jim Scott
will be in town on Friday Febru-
ary 15, 2002 for a solo concert of
“Songs for the Earth” from 8:00-
9:30 PM at the Unitarian-
Universalist Church of Tallahas-
see 2810 N. Meridian Road.
General admission for the concert
is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for
children and students with ID.
Advance tickets will be available
at the Church office during busi-
ness hours (385-5115). Tickets
will also be on sale at the door the
night of the performance, so ar-
rive early for the best seats.
Jim is an exciting acoustic gui-
tarist, singer, and composer of
powerful music that furthers the
ideals of ecology, justice, and
peace. He makes an impact on
hearts and minds as his concerts
celebrate the common humanity
of all cultures - our connections
with each other and with the
earth. His music has taken him
around the world as he makes his
case for harmony with well-
4 new members.
crafted, intelligent and humorous
songs, poetry and stories. His gui-
tar fluency comes from both a clas-
sical and jazz background, and he
uses it well with classical and steel
string acoustics.
In his years as guitarist for the
Paul Winter Consort, Jim's clear
voice led thousands in the song
"Common Ground" and his own
eco-anthem, "A Song For The
Earth." He was co-composer of the
Consort's monumental choral
work, "Missa Gaia/Earth Mass,"
and recorded “A Concert for the
Earth” in the Great Hall of the
United Nations. While a member
of the Winter Consort, Jim also
wrote several PBS soundtracks and
composed and arranged an entire
concert for the group with the Indi-
anapolis Symphony.
# $ "
%& $
'
On the Sunday immediately
following the Assembly, the
Audubon of Florida Board of
Directors approved the follow-
ing four new members for seats
on the Board.
Jill Mellen, Ph.D. - Research Bi-
ologist, Disney's Animal Kingdom
Roger Van Ghent - St. John's
County Audubon, Chapter elected
Board Member
Julie Byrne - Sarasota Audubon,
Chapter Elected Board Member
Larry Thompson – Apalachee
Audubon, Chapter Elected Board
Member
Congrats to Larry and the other
 & $
( (
) %
By Hans van Tol
Each year Audubon of Florida
adopts conservation resolutions
to set priorities for the state and
chapter organizations’ conserva-
tion efforts. Conservation com-
mittees in the chapters initiate
most of the resolutions and
members of the Audubon of
Florida staff propose others.
Then they are reviewed and ap-
proved at the annual Audubon
Assembly by Audubon mem-
bers from the 43 Florida chap-
ters.
In November the following 26
resolutions were approved:
Apalachicola River
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Climate Change
Conservation Education
Econolokhatchee River
Everglades Ecosystem
Fire Management
Florida Panther Protection & Recovery
Florida Scrub Jay Recovery
Florida Water Resources
Growth Management
Indian River Lagoon Water Quality
Lake Okeechobee
Lake Wales Ridge Ecosystem
Northwest Florida Water Management
Ocklawaha River Restoration
Oil and Gas Drilling
Phosphate Mining Environmental Im-
pacts
Pinhook Swamp-Osceola – Greater
Okefenokee Ecosystem
Protected Species
Roadless Area Conservation Rule
Rural Land Protection
Southwest Florida Land Use
Transportation Policy
Whooping Crane Recovery
Yellow River Dam
As you can see the list in-
cludes national and state con-
cerns. And in Florida, with it’s
rapidly growing population, is-
sues with water resources and
water quality, urban sprawl and
preservation of habitat for plants
and animals are prominent.
Audubon chapters in our re-
gion propose two of the new
resolutions: Apalachicola River
and Yellow River Dam. The
Yellow River is threatened by a
recent proposal to build a dam
to create a drinking water reser-
voir on lands that were bought
by the Water Management Dis-
trict for the protection and con-
servation lands along this river.
But there are other drinking wa-
ter sources that have much less
environmental impact and are
less expensive. Audubon
strongly opposes this project as
it would submerge valuable
wildlife habitat and would be
detrimental to threatened spe-
cies of fish such as the Gulf
Sturgeon. The dam could also
damage the remaining sea grass
beds in Pensacola Bay.
Another local treasure is the
Apalachicola River as evi-
denced by the large expendi-
tures for land acquisition in the
river flood plain to protect its
water quality. It has a great di-
versity of freshwater fish and is
vital for the ecology of the Apa-
lachicola Bay and its renowned
oysters. In spite of that, dredg-
ing operations detrimental to the
fish populations and the river-
bank’s habitat continue. Dredg-
5
ing is necessary for commercial
barge traffic but the volume is
so low that the cost to taxpayers
is $30,000 for each barge-tow.
Audubon is urging the U.S.
Congress to stop funding these
dredging operations.
To learn more about the con-
servation resolutions, check the
Audubon of Florida website
(www.audubonofflorida.org) or
contact Bill Lowrie at the Talla-
hassee Audubon of Florida of-
fice at 222-2473. These are
challenging issues and require
all of us to work together if we
are going to change public pol-
icy. W e encourage you to get
involved. Please contact us to
learn how you can help.
# $ %
$
& ' &
By Marvin Collins
We are planning monthly "bird
walks" on the 3rd Saturday of
each month. We will try to
meet early to catch the most
avian action and try to preserve
some flexibility as to location
depending on where the action
is. We should be through before
noon but sometime in April or
May we will take an all day trip
through the area coastal "hot
spots" (Bald Point through St.
George Island, for example).
For more information, call
Marvin Collins at 850/224-
9549.
Monthly Meetings, field trips, conservation activities and bird walks

Audubon Calendar
Monthly meetings are free and open to the public. They are held at the Unitarian Universalist Church in
Tallahassee, 2810 North Meridian Road. The evenings begin with an informal social at 7:00 p.m., followed by
the program at 7:30. Unless otherwise stated, field trips will depart from the First Union Bank at 3400 S. Monroe
Street (opposite the Fairgrounds). Note the time of departure for each trip. For more info check out our web site
at http://www.apalachee.org/calendar.html.

Saturday, Feb. 2 – Field Trip: Jim Cox will lead a "working" field trip at the Tall Timbers Research Station to dis-
cover evidence of nest cavity excavation by Brown-headed Nuthatches. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at Tall Timbers on
State Hwy 12 west of US 319.

Saturday, Feb. 16 – Bird Walk. Meet at 1st Union Bank across from fairgrounds on South Monroe at 7:30 a.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 26 – Membership Meeting. Jim Stevenson - Protection of Florida's Springs.

Saturday, March 16 - Bird Walk. Location and Time TBA.

Tuesday, March 26 - Membership Meeting. Larry Thompson, et al. - Birding Tallahassee. Larry will in-
troduce a brochure in development that will describe the best areas for birding in and around Tallahas-
see.

Tuesday, April 23 - Membership Meeting TBA.

Friday – Sunday, April 26 - 28 - Welcome Back Songbirds and the Wakulla Wildlife Festival. Wakulla Springs
State Park.

Tuesday, May 21 - Membership Meeting. Gil Nelson - Natural Gardens of the Big Bend: An Introduction to the
Plant Communities of the Florida Panhandle. Note change from 4th to 3rd Tuesday due to Memorial Day holiday.

Non-Profit
Apalachee Audubon Society, Inc. Organization
P.O. Box 1237 U.S. Postage
Tallahassee, FL 32302-1237 Paid
Permit No. 30
Tallahassee, FL

To check membership status, or to change address, call the National Audubon Society Office at 1-800-274-4201